Being a teacher in England during the COVID-19 pandemic

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Account

Principal Investigator: Dr Lisa E. Kim (University of York)

Co-Investigator: Professor Kathryn Asbury (University of York)

About

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit England, and schools closed, we became worried about what this would mean for teachers. So we started this project.

So far, we have interviewed our initial sample of 24 primary and secondary state schools in England seven times: April, June, July, November 2020, February and July 2021, and July 2022.

The project allows us to see how the pandemic has affected education, through teachers’ eyes, and to understand its impact on teacher and the teaching profession, including wellbeing and professional identity.

The project aims to generate evidence-informed recommendations for how the government and schools can support teachers, and therefore pupils, by consolidating teachers’ accounts of their lived experiences and the scientific literature.

Output

Our findings have been shared with researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and the general public.